Business parks are places where a specific plot of land has been set aside for locating groups of office buildings. Usually located in suburban areas or barren areas so that cost of land is minimal they are often situated with connectivity in mind – near trunk roads and with access to public transport such as the metro. Industrial parks on the other hand are places where some manner of manufacturing, assembling or packaging activity is conducted.
Dubai has over 30 Free Zones consisting of a mix of such commercial parks that offer business incentives and tax concessions.
Business Park South is one such free zone reserved for office spaces with accompanying amenities, facilities and services. Located in the southern part of Jebel Ali District (which is itself to the south of Dubai) it is well connected to the Jebel Ali Port via the Logistics Corridor. It is about 45 kilometers (and a 30 minute ride by taxi) away from the heart of Dubai city towards Abu Dhabi. Jebel Ali to Abu Dhabi is about a 100 kilometers (a one hour journey by taxi that costs just over 200 dirhams).
The Jebel Ali Port is the largest marine port in the Middle East and the 9th busiest port in the world. Consequently the Jebel Ali Free Zone produces 23% of Dubai’s GDP with over 7,000 companies engaged in manufacturing, trade, and logistics, among a wide range of industrial and service activity.
Business Park Dubai is right at the entrance of Dubai South and consists of a set of eleven office buildingsdistributed between East and West Wings and a Headquarter Building in the middle. While the HQ building offers pre-fitted ready to move in offices, the Wings have shell-and-core spaces for furbishing as offices. These office spaces range from around 437 sq. ft. to 79,652 sq. ft. in size. The buildings are centrally air-conditioned and four high-speed lifts and offices enjoy views of some very aesthetic landscaping. All buildings have a prayer room and pantry on each floor.
Business Park Dubai comes replete with amenities for the office goers, such as conference facilities, supermarket, food & beverage outlets, a gym, an ATM, and a medical clinic. Business Park South has plenty of on-site car parking slots in the basement of the office buildings while the podium level has parking slots for visitors.
As a rule of thumb, rentals for office space is around 80-90 Dirhans per sq.ft. per annum. This is substantially less costly, between 20-40% of the cost of renting similar space in Dubai proper and between 60-80% of the cost of renting low quality space there. Parking space in Dubai is often a problem except for the high-end properties.
Residential areas are located 12 to 15 kilometers away such as the towers of flats in the vicinity of the Al-Makhtoum airport where a 1000 sq.ft. apartment may be available for a rent of around AED 45,000 per annum. Overall therefore, As a location to operate out of, Dubai South offers highly competitive pricing coupled with flexible commercial lease terms.
Commuting options to Business Park Dubai include RTA buses, taxis and personal vehicles. Bus stations in the vicinity are located at Dubai World Central, Headquarter 1, Dubai World Central, Headquarter 2, Dubai World Central, Offices Park 1, Dubai World Central, Offices Park 2 and Dubai World Central, Headquarter Entrance. Convenient Metro stations near Business Park are the UAE Exchange Metro Station, Ibn Battuta Metro Station and Energy Metro Station.
For all those with a medium to long term perspective Business Park South could be an ideal location. The freebies such as tax waiver that come with it must also be kept in mind.